Untwisted Vortexthriller

Cloverfield (2008)

RT Cunningham — Thu, 10 Apr 2008 07:55:48 +0000

Cloverfield is much more than a monster movie, Godzilla style. It's what you might see if you if you picked up a video camera that someone was holding throughout the events that took place.

I really enjoyed this movie, even though I found one major flaw in it. There is no way in hell that the monster could have lived after being the target of missiles and bombs. That ammo is designed to go through steel and I'd don't think any living creature has a hide that strong.

The monster wasn't the scariest part of the movie. He was just lumbering around, destroying things, and eating random people on the fly. The scariest part were the critters falling off its body. I don't know what the critters were doing to the people, but it didn't look like they were playing. Thankfully, we didn't see anyone getting chomped on.

If you want realism in a horror flick, I highly recommend you watch Cloverfield.

It stars Lizzy Caplan, Jessica Lucas, T.J. Miller, Michael Stahl-David, Mike Vogel and Odette Yustman. Here's a 5-minute clip from the movie:

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The Seeker: The Dark Is Rising (2007)

RT Cunningham — Mon, 31 Mar 2008 15:32:38 +0000

My son persuaded me to watch The Seeker: The Dark Is Rising with him. It was a load of crap, in my humble opinion.

Will Stanton, on his 14th birthday, finds out he is "the seeker" and has to collect 6 signs before "the rider" unleashes darkness on the world.

What the movie failed to explain, until near the end, is why Will was the seeker in the first place and why things didn't start happening until he was 14.

Judging by the reviews at IMDB and comparing the movie with the plot of the book series started over 40 years ago, I think I'm correct in my opinion that this movie isn't worth the time to watch it.

The Seeker: The Dark Is Rising stars Alexander Ludwig, Christopher Eccleston and a bunch of other forgettable actors. Here's a trailer:

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The Da Vinci Code (2006)

RT Cunningham — Sun, 03 Feb 2008 20:37:45 +0000

The Da Vinci Code is an excellent film. The religious content could be replaced with just about anything else and it would still be entertaining. I know a lot of people wouldn't agree with me, but I don't care. This movie (and the book it was based on) isn't about religion; it's about power and the people who use power to suppress information that shouldn't be suppressed.

In this story, Professor Langdon is lured into a treasure hunt for the most valuable treasure in the world: The Holy Grail. It wasn't his choice — the French government, along with some powerful people in the Catholic church, implicated him in murder. Anyway, this is as far as I'll go with it, lest I spoil it for anyone who hasn't seen it yet.

The Da Vinci Code stars Tom Hanks, Audrey Tautou, Ian McKellen, Jean Reno, Paul Bettany and Alfred Molina. Here's a clip of the final scenes in the movie with some awesome background music.

Click here to view the embedded video.

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Dancing Inmates of Cebu, Philippines

RT Cunningham — Thu, 02 Aug 2007 16:23:02 +0000

This is a popular video of the inmates at the prison in Cebu, Philippines practicing a dance number for Michael Jackson's "Thriller". Maybe it isn't as productive as someone might want, but at least the inmates aren't getting into trouble!

Click here to view the embedded video.

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The 6th Day (2000)

RT Cunningham — Fri, 20 Jul 2007 04:58:57 +0000

While I enjoyed the action and some of the craziness of The 6th Day, I couldn't get my head wrapped around the basic premise. Oh, I enjoyed watching it as I enjoy watching most of "Ahnold's" films, but the underlying theme of cloning doesn't make sense to me. The writers made the assumption that copying memories and DNA, and putting them in "blanks" that are ready to be altered, is enough. The story assumes that humans don't have immortal souls at all. It crossed some religious boundaries that didn't need to be crossed. I think it could have been written in a way where that wouldn't have been an issue at all.

The 6th Day stars Arnold Schwarzenegger, Michael Rapaport, Tony Goldwyn and others. Here's the trailer:

Click here to view the embedded video.

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The Prestige (2006)

RT Cunningham — Sun, 08 Jul 2007 17:38:50 +0000

Why anyone would compare "The Prestige" to The Illusionist for anything other than the illusions is beyond me. Unlike the love story of the latter, this film is the story of two up and coming magicians whose rivalry becomes deadly. In my opinion, and based on their own individual merits, they're both excellent films.

An interesting inclusion to the film were some inventions by Nikola Tesla, who was made out to be an even madder scientist than told by history.

"The Prestige" stars Hugh Jackman, Christian Bale, Michael Caine and others. Here's the trailer:

Click here to view the embedded video.

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The Illusionist (2006)

RT Cunningham — Thu, 05 Jul 2007 06:00:23 +0000

I almost made the mistake of not watching this movie. I was treated in earlier years to some of the most boring movies ever that were billed as period pieces. Slow dramas don't interest me much.

This is not the case with "The Illusionist". The story involves a young peasant and his relationship with a young lady of the upper class. The relationship was forbidden. His talents included magic and illusions and during their separation of 15 years, he honed his craft and returned (with an alias) as a master illusionist on the stage. He gets back together with his love and then things go terribly wrong. The crown prince, who wanted her as his bride, killed her while in a drunken stupor when she said she wasn't going to marry him and walked out. Or did he?

This movie kept me captivated until the last five minutes when everything was revealed. The Illusionist stars Edward Norton (who will play Bruce Banner in the upcoming Hulk movie), Jessica Biel, Paul Giamatti, and Rufus Sewell. Here's the trailer:

Click here to view the embedded video.

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The Abyss (1989)

RT Cunningham — Tue, 08 May 2007 12:26:51 +0000

After Alien and before Terminator, True Lies and Titanic, James Cameron and directed "The Abyss", an underwater sci-fi/action/adventure. Ed Harris is superb as Virgil "Bud" Brigman, the head of an underwater drilling platform. If you've never seen this, I don't want to give it away. It has a disaster, suspense and aliens as part of the film. What more could a nerd like me want out of a movie?

"The Abyss" stars Ed Harris, Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio, Michael Biehn and a bunch of other people I never heard of. Here's a trailer:

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Looker (1981)

RT Cunningham — Mon, 09 Apr 2007 15:33:17 +0000

Released to theaters in 1981, it took until 2006 to see "Looker" released on DVD. I saw the movie when it was originally released, but I must have slept through most of it because the only thing I remembered was the "looker gun".

Looker, starring Albert Finney (of too many movies to name), Susan Dey (Partridge Family, L.A. Law, others), James Coburn (way too many movies) and more, this is the story of an evil pre-modern computer research company. A plastic surgeon becomes suspicious when his clients start dying weeks after he fixes their features to exacting specifications. The research company, using an advanced optical gun, hypnotizes the victims and causes them to have accidents that look like suicides. Once they discover the plastic surgeon (Finney) is on to them, they try to take him out of the picture. It all backfires and the hero gets the girl in another classic story from Michael Crichton (Jurassic Park, Sphere, Coma, Westworld, The Andromeda Strain, others). I couldn't find a trailer, but I did find other clips. Here's a clipped scene followed by a deleted scene:

Click here to view the embedded video.

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The Fifth Element (1997)

RT Cunningham — Mon, 09 Apr 2007 05:56:34 +0000

One of the movies I watched on DVD with my son back in April, The Fifth Element is a fun-filled, action-packed, futuristic adventure that has never failed to please me no matter how many times I've watched it. Sure, some of the acting is over the top, but it was meant to be that way.

The Fifth Element stars Bruce Willis (of too many movies to name), Milla Jovovich (Resident Evil, Ultraviolet, others), Chris Tucker (Rush Hour, Jackie Brown), and more, it's a romp that has a retired military (and I empathize) cab driver involved with the "supreme" being in a race against time to stop the evil that's approaching Earth. Here's a trailer:

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